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Why Silence is Worse than an Argument

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If you went in for a haircut and asked for a trim and the stylist put her electric clippers one inch from your head, would you say something? What about if you were building a house and the architect’s blueprints showed some weird wall smack dab in the middle of your open concept? Would you speak up? Of course you would.

I mean, it’s your hair and your house. You have to live with them long after the work is complete so it better be exactly what you want.

Samesies goes for your website. You need to get what you ask for, be it function or aesthetic. Although there’s one significant difference between hair and homes vs. websites: pages on your site can be changed without requiring months of hair growth vitamins or extensive demolition. Revisions are built into the design workflow for that exact reason, and comps can be adjusted to move in a different direction. That said, it only applies if you speak up.

Feedback from clients is a crucial aspect of the design process at Fifty & Fifty. That’s actually a huge reason why that’s our company name. The expectation is that the two involved parties (the clients + the Fifty team) have a relationship with equal collaboration. 50 + 50 = 100.

All of the above has made it so we’d actually prefer an argument over silence. It’s easy for us to think that silence means it’s coming along precisely how you hoped or you’re simply trusting our judgment (which we appreciate). But the flip side is that silence means you’re not entirely happy with the road it’s going down and will change your mind about critical things later. Maybe too late…Notice that I talked about how revisions occur during the design process. Once you get into the development phase of the site, it’s way harder (read: expensive) to make changes that should have been fleshed out early in the game.

So if you’re a client (or you want to be a client), come ready to argue. Question what we’re putting across the table or we’re never going to make it any better. We want you to protect what you care about and feel a pride of ownership over the final product. Remember, you’re the ones who are going to live with the lopsided haircut or random wall in the middle of your living room.

*By “argue”, we don’t mean that we want you to scream or throw things at us. But we want you to be vocal, have opinions, spout your visions, and weigh-in on every last icon.